‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ Reboot May Already Be Dead In The Water As Writers Leave Disney’s Project

A few months ago, Disney confirmed that they were working on a reboot of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and even had writers attached already. The news brought forth mixed reactions as fans weren’t sure of what to think of a Pirates movie without Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, but it was set to happen. Now, it appears as if the new project may already be dead in the water and not happening at all.

When the news first broke, Disney confirmed that Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were writing the script for the sixth movie in the franchise. While details were very few, Inquisitr had reported that Disney was looking to replace Depp with a female lead, but all of that may mean nothing now.

According to Deadline, both Reese and Wernick have now stepped away from writing the new Pirates of the Caribbean and are no longer involved. Even though the five movies in the franchise have brought in more than $4.5 billion at the global box office, it appears as if their involvement simply wasn’t meant to be.

There has been no reason given for their departure, but the movie is now without anyone to write the script and simply may not happen at all.

Featured image credit: The Walt Disney Company

Sean Bailey is Disney’s film production chief and he was thrilled with having Reese and Wernick on board for the new Pirates of the Caribbean. When news first broke on the reboot of the movie franchise, Bailey was very excited and thought the duo of writers would give the series the “kick in the pants” that it needed.

Now, both have left the project without any reason publicly given, and there is nothing known as to who may take their place. The thing is that it’s very possible Disney may not even look for other writers and simply let the project die out.

Then again, they could do a search for someone else to pen the script and bring the reboot of Pirates of the Caribbean back to life. Anyone looking to come on board, though, may wonder what happened to make Reese and Wernick leave so quickly after just being hired in October.

Bailey thought that the writers would “make Pirates punk rock again,” but what now? Insiders at The Walt Disney Company are reportedly split on the direction that they will go in now. Some believe the reboot of Pirates of the Caribbean will search for another writer or writer team while others think everything may simply be shelved.